Books for sale, signed of course.
So, it’s time I cleared a few of these out. If anyone wants to buy a signed copy of any of my books, well, my email is over on the right here at the bottom of my profile. I’m selling them at cover price (if $ then converted to £) plus postage and packing. Just detail what you want and I’ll check to see if I’ve got it – my aim in the end is to retain just two copies each of my English language books and one each of the foreign language ones.

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of those video clips. I’m told by various people that they like them but, unfortunately, I’m not getting enough questions. Here are the questions in the comments of the previous clip:

ChrisW: You've probably answered this before somewhere, so feel free to ignore, but, what's up with "The Departure"(the HB not the eBook) not being available/published in the USA? Is it going the way of "The Line of Polity"?

Still annoys me that when I look at my Asher shelve that there is no Line HB. Bloody publishers!

Spaceoperaghost: Will you ever expand on the story of The Quiet War?

Taylor Preston: When you write, do you revise/edit as you go or do you just hammer out the first draft before you put pen to paper and start making changes? I know you've said before you don't normally outline, so I'm wondering how much revision you end up doing and how you go about it.

Huan: What size are Amistad and Sniper?

arj209: Have you reached the lofty heights of stardom of being recognised in the streets?

Friso: Your Wikipedia article mentions "runcible" is an homage to ansible. Is that how you intended it?

Thezzphai: In an interview you talked about your next Polity book possibly being called "Penny Royal". Can you already tell something about the content (pretty please) and when it will be released approximately? Are you already working on it or is it just an idea for the time being?

The last one here has been answered and is being answered on the blog but I suppose I can go over it again a bit, and the first one here is just a ‘don’t know’ but I guess I could waffle on about the subject for a bit. But I could do with some more questions. Please post questions in the comments section over on my blog: http://theskinner.blogspot.com/2012/01/video-clips.html

I’ve been going back through my blog selecting out old reviews I’d done and posting them on Good Reads. While doing this I was reminded of various ways in which readers of this blog can get involved beyond just commenting.

There is the ‘Who Reads My Books’ thread. For this you send me a biography (doesn’t have to be very long and I will edit the English) a photograph of yourself and, if you like, a few more photos of related interest: maybe something about what you do, maybe your family, maybe your book collection.

There are the ‘Five Desert Island Reads’ thread. Send pictures of the books concerned (if you can) along with an explanation of why you would like these books on that island.

Pictures of people’s books collections have often been a talking point here, so, if you haven’t sent in pictures of yours, why not give that a go?

After working backwards through Jupiter War I next worked through it forwards again and at last it was time to send it off. ‘Sending off time’ arrives not when I feel I’ve finished a book, but when I realize I’m starting to make changes out of boredom with text I’ve read just too many times. So, today I sent off Jupiter War to Macmillan.

I was undecided about what to do next, whether to write synopses and blurbs or just get back to the Penny Royal thing. I decided on the former because Jupiter War is still clear in my mind. I was going to describe the process I use for this, but we’ve been there before. Anyway, at 5.30 I now have a 3,000 word rough synopsis (six pages), which I will tidy up and from which I will produce a one-page synopsis. From this, I will then produce a selection of blurbs – exciting descriptions of the book that don’t give the game away. I can then dust off my hands with satisfaction, and go back to Penny Royal. Of course it’s not all over. Peter Lavery or some other editor will attack it with a pencil, a couple of copy edits will come my way too…

Right, I am now feeling quite smug as I sip a glass of red wine prior to enjoying a nice curry. It’s a brief stop along the way, a page or chapter break, but I’ll be back at the keyboard soon enough. I sometimes try to envision stopping, or retiring, but that’s for those who don’t enjoy their jobs. The morticians will have to lever my cold dead fingers from the keyboard, I think.

I’ve finished the first draft of Penny Royal I and have just cleared 120,000 words with Penny Royal II and my characters have still yet to arrive at a particular destination where the end game of this book is to play out. I am just entering what I’ll call a precursor punch-up with a bit of war time history on the side. I have been enjoying detailing in these books a Polity bioweapon, based on a prador parasite, and delivered by assassin drones made in the shape of that parasite. Blame my winter reading of that blog ‘Parasite of the Day’.

Jason Carroll, an ex SAS soldier and contract killer is convinced he will die in action. It is thus embarrassing when he is run over by a bus. It is even more embarrassing when he, and atheist, realises there is an afterlife…

Resurrected on a huge flat plain, he is forced to play a deadly game. Moved as a pawn to the whim of the Gods in a fight to the death with warriors from all ages of earth’s history. Killed again and again only to be resurrected.

The General, the Grim Reaper and Anubis are some of the strange beings who direct this grisly entertainment. Is it real or only in his decaying mind. Who is the Clown? It there anywhere to escape to?

To retain his sanity, he must believe there is an end; an escape; a purpose. A thought-provoking story leading to an action filled climax that challenges our accepted beliefs…